The Hindu : Sport : Ashok bags ColorPlus Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 18, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Ashok bags ColorPlus Open

Principal Correspondent

Gaganjeet Bhullar announces his arrival with a bogey-free round

MOMENT TO SAVOUR: Ashok Kumar, who won the title, poses with the trophy. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

GURGAON: Ashok Kumar scripted yet another win, something that has become a routine for the Delhi-pro, but rookie Gaganjeet Bhullar announced his arrival with a bogey-free round to take the runner-up prize in the Rs. 25 lakh ColorPlus Open golf championship at the Golden Greens Golf and Country Club here on Sunday.

Ashok played on the four-stroke cushion he had going into the final day to post a card of three-under 69 for an impressive aggregate of 18-under 270 at the tough links course here. Ashok had his eye on Digvijay Singh, who yet again played an amazing front-nine to take the turn at four-under 32 with four birdies. What Ashok seemed to have missed was Bhullar's surge.

Bridging the gap

Starting the day five strokes behind the leader, Bhullar kept himself to the task of bridging the gap as narrow as possible. He did that with flying colours firing six birdies for the second-successive `best card of the day' at 66. Bhullar's effort earned him Rs. 2.8 lakh that put his season's earning well past Rs. 15 lakh. On a day that started under pouring rain, which delayed the start by over three hours, Ashok finally realised his mission of clinching his fifth title on the 2006-07 domestic golf tour. His record for the season has so far been remarkable, as he has earned Rs. 44.178 lakh from just eight starts. The golfing season would end with the final Tour event coming up in early July.

Digvijay's play

When play started, it was Digvijay who straightaway announced his intentions. He birdied the first hole and then the par-4 third before Ashok bogeyed the par-3 fourth. An eagle on the par-5 fifth put Digvijay just one shot from catching up with Ashok Kumar.

But Ashok fired a measured birdie on the par-3 eighth to widen the gap yet again before Digvijay's game fell apart on the home stretch.

Ashok had two more birdies on the back-nine and a bogey on the par-4 17th did not really matter as Digvijay had lost the grip over him.

Bhullar though leapfrogged but it was too late to catch up with the eventual winner. Ashok earned Rs. 4.05 lakh and a pewter trophy for his win.

The scores: Ashok Kumar (66, 68, 67, 69) 270, Gaganjeet Bhullar (71, 69, 66, 66) 272, Digvijay Singh (67, 70, 68, 69) 274, S. S. P. Chowrasia (65, 71, 70, 69) and Gaurav Ghei (70, 68, 68, 69) 275, Mukesh Kumar (73, 68, 69, 68) 278, C. Muniyappa (69, 73, 68, 69) 279, Harendra Gupta (72, 69, 72, 67) 280, Arjun Singh (71, 69, 70, 71) 281, Shiv Prakash (68, 72, 70, 73) 283, Sanjay Kumar (72, 70, 73, 69), Mohammed Islam (70, 71, 72, 71) and Chiragh Kumar (72, 72, 69, 71) 284.

Amateurs: Montek Mayal (79, 73, 74, 75) 301, Jagmoh Singh Gill (76, 78, 74, 79) 307, Siddharth Arora (81, 73, 81, 78) 313.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport